Commercial glow discharge atomic emission and mass spectrometer systems are generally limited to the analysis of conductive solid samples. In an attempt to develop glow discharge techniques for the analysis of non-conductive samples, research efforts have been made in the use of radio frequency powered sources for generating the glow discharge. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,006,706 issued Apr. 9, 1991, and 5,086,226 issued Feb. 4, 1992, both invented by R. Kenneth Marcus at Clemson University under work sponsored by the National Science Foundation and U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,133 issued Jul. 2, 1991, to Michelle Chevrier et al. of France are representative of such work. All of the systems of these references rely on coupling the RF power through the sample, the sample is analyzed on one side and the RF power is applied to the opposite side. This method of analysis is limited in that the analytical signals will vary with elemental concentration (the desired relationship) and also with sample thickness (not a desired affect). This latter affect is due to the efficiency with which the RF power can be coupled to the analytical zone (portion of the sample that will be analyzed). This affect becomes important when attempting to compare analytical signals from different samples (which may not have the same thickness). As a result, the method is limited to samples of the same thickness or degraded analytical restfits are obtained from samples of differing thicknesses.